different types of editing
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Editorial Distinctions: Different Types of Editing

ByJennifer Lawler

Knowing the different types of editing will help you understand how they can often be fused together in a freelance editor’s project. The 3 Different Types of Editing Developmental editing (abbreviated DE or dev) looks at the big-picture concerns of a manuscript (ms). For nonfiction, we would ask: Is the structure logical? Is the argument…

beginning copyediting for fiction
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Avoiding “Here’s How I Would Write it” as an Editor

ByJennifer Lawler

Have you used the “here’s how I would write it” editorial query? In making editorial suggestions, editors sometimes drift into “here’s how I would write it” territory, which is something I discourage. Authors don’t care what you would have done. They want to learn what they can do that will make their manuscript better. What…

beginning line editing for fiction.

Ask the Editor: Line Editing During a Developmental Edit

ByJennifer Lawler

To help editors struggling with the overlap in different types of editing, we need to revisit line editing vs developmental editing. From my inbox: “I’m a little confused about how much line editing is expected during a developmental edit. Are we expected to smooth over all of the tics in the author’s writing that might…

foundations of storytelling for writers.
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Using other people’s characters to inspire you

ByJennifer Lawler

Writers’ Topic: Character Inspiration Can writers get character inspiration from other writers? Using an existing character can be a good jumping off point to a new character. A student once asked, “I often find B characters in novels more interesting than the leads, yet they’re never fully developed (hence the B aspect). I wonder if…

creating classes and information products

Product mosaic marketing for freelance editors – or stop focusing on a sales funnel!

ByJennifer Lawler

Stop Focusing on a Sales Funnel Marketers talk a lot about sales funnels, where you get a bunch of people to purchase a no-cost or low-cost item, then get them to buy a higher-priced product and so on up to your highest-priced product. Fewer people will buy your highest-priced product (thus the narrowing of the…